According to preliminary data, August of this year was the second most profitable tourist month of all time after August 2019. Bank of Greece. In fact, sources involved in the relevant data collection process believe that the final data will be adjusted higher, placing August 2022 at the top of the all-time list.

At the moment, according to the data of the Bank of Greece for the August balance of payments, the arrival of non-resident travelers in Greece this year increased by 44% compared to last year, and the corresponding receipts increased by 28.1% compared to August 2021. In particular, travel revenue in August this year amounted to 4.04 billion euros, compared with 3.15 billion in the corresponding month of 2021 and 4.1 billion in August 2019. August of the same year, the last before the pandemic, is also an absolute record in terms of travel receipts. So compared to August 2019 receipts this year in the same month of this year, they were 13.2% lower.

However, these temporary data of the Bank of Greece are not consistent with the corresponding data airports countries, the same sources report, and thus it is assumed that we will be mentioned above in their final count.

However, they are a great performance for him. Greek tourismespecially considering the problems and the depth of the tourism crisis caused by the pandemic from the beginning of 2020 to the current year.

In July, average spending per traveler rose to €705 from €652.5 in July 2019.

This performance follows the record July collection set this year, with Greece in particular recording the highest travel collection ever recorded in July this year. According to the Bank of Greece, inflows in July 2022 were €3.723bn, up +0.56% from July 2019, a month that also set the previous record with inflows of €3.702bn. However, inflows in July this year they were 7% lower than in the same month of 2019, namely 5.275 million visitors compared to 5.673. Less foreign travelers that is, they left more money. How much more? Based on the given data from the Bank of Greece, the average cost per traveler has increased from 652.5 euros in July 2019 to 705 euros this year, i.e. by 8%. Market circles note that such a percentage is justified not only by higher visitor spending, but also by inflation. It is noted that for all eight months of the year, i.e. the period from January to August, the arrival of out-of-town travelers increased by 121.8%, and related receipts by 92.1% compared to the corresponding period in 2021, which is 87.6% and 96.4% of their respective levels in 2019.

Meanwhile, according to the Bank of Greece, in August 2022, the current account surplus decreased by 952.5 million euros compared to the corresponding month of 2021, to 449.1 million euros, mainly due to a deterioration in secondary income and commodity balances. and, to a lesser extent, the balance of primary incomes, which was partly offset by an improvement in the balance of services, mainly from tourism and shipping. Between January and August 2022, the current account deficit increased by 4.2 billion to 10 billion compared to the same period in 2021, mainly due to the deterioration in the balance of goods, as well as the balances of primary and secondary income, which was in compensated to some extent by an improvement in the balance of services.

The increase in the eight-month deficit is due to the increase in imports at a faster rate than the growth rate of exports. Exports increased by 43.3% at current prices (7.0% at constant prices) and imports by 48.1% at current prices (21.6% at constant prices). In particular, in current prices, exports and imports of non-fuel goods increased by 27.5% and 30.5%, respectively (10.4% and 21.5% in comparable prices).

The increase in the balance of services surplus is mainly due to the improvement in the balance of tourism services, as well as income from maritime transport.